Silver Screen
by Catman99
Summary: When Harry Dresden's apprentice comes to LA at the same time as the White Court steps up their influence in the film business, Warden Ramirez ends up in the crossfire.   Takes place between Turn Coat and Changes


_Disclaimer: The characters and universe do not belong to me, I'm only playing with them_

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><p>It started with a phone call from Harry Dresden. All of my really bad days start like that. Either that or with me waking up in a hospital bed with Harry Dresden looming over me. In both cases I blame him for getting under my feet. My name's Carlos Ramirez and I'm the youngest Warden Regional Commander since records began. Granted I have very few people to actually command, but I can kick some serious ass when I'm riled. And I'm a wizard. Yes, a real life, actual, factual wizard. I could wax poetic about the beginning of the century and the resurgence of the supernatural in poDpular culture, but if you want that, I'd direct you to my friend Harry.<p>

"Hey Carlos, how're you doing?" he asked in that really forcibly cheerful voice that he always uses when he's after something.

"Cut to it Dresden," I smirked into the phone. He immediately dropped any pretences of having called for a girly catch up session.

"I need a favour," he said, his voice tight with tension. Harry Dresden was kind of like my unofficial mentor in the White Council, the conglomeration of the world's wizard population, especially after my former master had been killed by the Red Court - the group of vampires we're currently at war with. Kind of. There's a peace treaty. Kind of. We didn't get together often, every couple of months to put the newest batch of Wardens (think wizard police) through their paces or when something threatened the very fabric of reality. So when he calls me up out of the blue, I think it's fair enough that I have mixed feelings about what he's after.

"The kind of favour where I come over and feed your dog, or the kind of favour where I need a spare clip for the Eagle?"

"A little bit of both. I need to send Molly down to you for a few days,"

I paused before answering that. Molly Carpenter is Harry's apprentice, and seriously hot. I mean, like, really, really, unbelievably hot. Take this as fact from someone who's run into a whole lot of supernaturally sexy beings in his few short years on this planet. She's tall, well built, well equipped, and she just radiates perversion and sin. Of course she's also a rehabilitated warlock who violated the mind of her last real boyfriend. Still, I've had to stop myself from drooling openly a couple of times when she catches me off guard. Nothing's ever easy where magic's concerned. So, needless to say, the idea of Molly Carpenter spending a few days in Chez Ramirez appealed greatly to my libido.

"Oh…really? Why's that?" I said, carefully making my tone neutral. Harry wasn't fooled for a second. The bastard.

"Down boy. She's in trouble. I can't really tell you over the phone, but it's not safe for her in Chicago at the moment. I'm sending her to meet you through a Way in about ten minutes. I need you to be waiting for her on the other side,"

Again there was silence down the telephone wire, although there was the crackling and hissing that was commonplace with every magically-influenced phone call. Magic screws about with the basis of all types of modern technology. Everything that can go wrong with a gadget will go wrong, usually with sparks and smoke. It can be quite helpful in a bind, but it does mean that most wizards live a life out of the 1960's at best.

"Do I have a choice in this?" I asked, semi-desperately. A weekend with Molly would be worth a fight through the Nevernever, the Faerie realm beyond the reach of the mortal world. Harry had managed to secure the Council moderately safe passage in return for something or other, which was good news for us. It meant that I'd only have to fight wild fae in order to get to Molly.

"Sure you do Carlos. You can either sit in that flat of yours and drink some beer and leave my apprentice to die, or you can ride to the rescue and be Molly's knight in shining armour," Harry said. I could actually hear that bastard grinning over the phone. I sighed. Some things never change.

"I'll be there," I said, dropping the phone back on the hook. I took a deep breath before changing into the combat gear that I've accumulated over the last five or so years. Military fatigues, combat webbing and my Grey Warden's cape; all the clothing that one needs to avoid being filleted by mad Faeries. I followed this up with my grenade belt, Warden's rapier and my Desert Eagle, for things of a more mundane nature. I'd recently purchased some anti-fae rounds - full metal jacket rounds with a steel alloy shell, an idea which I'd stolen off of Dresden's police friend. I checked myself in the full length mirror that I keep by the door, usually covered in a warded cloth to prevent some grisly nasty thing stepping over from the Nevernever. Y'know, to make sure I had easy access to my weapons. And stuff. Well I couldn't go out and rescue Molly with my hair all out of place, could I?

I grabbed my staff from the stand by the door and left my apartment, checking the watch my father had given me when I turned eighteen. It was completely clockwork, and so there wasn't any chance of it breaking down due to magical interference, which was one of those helpful little things that you have to bear in mind when buying for a wizard. I was running a few minutes late, so I put my foot down on the pick-up truck that I'd been using to drive myself around recently. Again, driving a car was one of those essential little things that being a wizard makes that much harder. I know one wizard that just rides a bicycle everywhere instead of the hassle of getting to intimately know your local mechanic. Of course he's British, so that pretty much explains it.

When I was getting set up in Los Angeles a couple of years back, I deliberately chose the apartment that was closest to the Council sanctioned Way into the city. Ways are quick routes between two places via the Nevernever, which the White Council have been using to survive the war with the Red Court. Just because they were official White Council Ways didn't mean that they were particularly safe places to be. They were just safer than being leapt upon by ravenous vampires. The entrance to the Way used to be just outside a multi-storey car park, until it was knocked down last year. Now it sits just next to a building site. Sometimes I love the glitz and glamour that comes with saving the mortal world from supernatural menace.

I checked my watch again. It was time. I got ready to power up my shield bracelet, gripped my staff a little harder and braced myself.

"Let's go," I muttered to myself.

Then I ripped a hole in the fabric of reality and stepped over into the Nevernever.


End file.
